Let's get right to it: Knocked Loose and Denzel Curry's "Hive Mind" is the talk of the nu world right now. Everyone has an opinion on the matter, and here are just a few of those from the writers of The Nu Metal Agenda. In case you haven't heard the song, educate yourself below, then see what The Agenda has to say about it.
Gabi Brown, NMA editor: Okay, so I’ve been waiting for something this with bated breath since Denzel Curry’s absolutely incredible “Bulls on Parade” cover for triple j’s Like a Version back in 2019. Getting to hear the titanic closing verse from “SIRENS | Z1RENZ” over Rage Against the Machine instrumentation was a rare treat—Curry’s an incredible lyricist, and has the perfect energy and stage presence to front a band as unabashedly in-your-face as Knocked Loose.
When he jumps in for the second verse on “Hive Mind,” the entire band locks in around him. We are incredibly blessed to live in an era with bands like UnityTX seamlessly blending hip-hop and hardcore, but this single is some of the most tightly-executed and aggressive genre synthesis I’ve heard so far. When Curry’s flow changes, the whole band switches up to follow him. The energy throughout the whole thing is infectious, and the closing third where the music switches back and forth on a dime between a brutal breakdown and trap beat is incredibly convincing. We’ve got a long year of nu-metal ahead of us in 2026, but the bar just got raised. I’m excited.
Stephan Carrizales, NMA and What's Nu? writer/photographer: All I’ve ever wanted in music was two things: rap flow over a Knocked Loose track, and record scratches over a Knocked Loose track. Seemingly by some divine miracle, I finally got it. All I need is blast beats over a Knocked Loose track and the holy trinity will finally be complete.
Tweaking aside, this colab hits in all the perfect places. Isaac Hale screaming “FUCK IT UP” sets the expectation perfectly for what needs to happen when this track drops. Denzel Curry has been treading the water of nu metal and hardcore ever since the “Bulls On Parade” cover, not to mention his appearances at the hardcore-adjacent Outbreak Fest and his current tour with Deftones, I feel like Curry has been waiting for the right moment to fully break into hardcore and metal, and Knocked Loose is the perfect band to full send it. I can only imagine what this is gonna sound like live, and I pray for the perfect timing to experience it.
Lucia Z. Liner, NMA editor-in-chief: Sometimes it's as dead simple as "hey do you like X and Y separately? What if they were together?" and we will all collectively buy that for a dollar. Knocked Loose have gone viral for their bark breakdowns and that "Suffocate" performance, and Denzel Curry did the nearly-impossible and improved upon Rage Against The Machine's "Bulls On Parade" when covering it for triple j. As such, we have "Hive Mind," which had me whooping and screaming "oh shit!" more times in under three minutes than any song has any right to do.
There is a small but vocal section of the metal world that are upset about this song, and those people do not know ball, and that is with setting aside some potential racism and biases involved with that. Hardcore and hip-hop go way back, and this is an improvement on a timeless pairing. Volatile, energetic, exciting, dangerous, there are myriad adjectives to describe this one. If only to piss off the purists, we need more of this, stat, and the fact that it would serve the masters of hardcore punk and hip-hop is a boon for both parties.
rosiegothicc, NMA writer: I personally love "Hive Mind." It's brutal and all over the place sonically, but in a controlled chaos kind of way. It almost feels like genuine symbiosis. No party takes more than they give. Hive Mind isn't a nu-hardcore track with Denzel Curry, nor is it a Knocked Loose song with a Denzel Curry verse. This wasn’t a label industry quid pro quo, rather it seemed like a genuine collaboration and connection. The pig squeals over the breakdown just wraps up the track so nicely. There are only so many words to say this is sick as hell. Many people claim to be fans of metal, but Denzel knows his stuff.
"Jump when they say jump / Stomp when they say stomp / Run when they say run / Sorry b*tch, I ain't no pawn. "
It’s 2026’s "Bring The Noise."
Drew Davis, NMA writer: I logged my initial reaction here, but I jumped at the opportunity continue the conversation. Having given "Hive Mind" several more listens, I'm stuck by the song's compositional complexity. The sheer number of ideas packed into this thing is anathema to how these kinds of collaborations usually play out. The first tip-off is how lead singer Bryan Garris cuts the trap break short: the entire track is about obliterating expectations. As a piece of songcraft, the track is absolutely wild, even by Knocked Loose standards.
Compare "Hive Mind" to "Suffocate," their Grammy-nominated team-up with Poppy: structurally, the latter feels almost quaint by comparison. And matching them every step of the way is expert production from WZRD BLD (aka Drew Fulk). Everyone involved is turning in career best work.
Also, there's no way the Curry's line "Watch as everybody follow the leader" isn't meant to invoke Korn. Knocked Loose are avowed fans—they even use seven-string guitars tuned to A standard, just like Korn—but the line really underscores the self-awareness on display. Knocked Loose are guilty as anyone of drawing from the same pool of influences, which makes the originality—and ferocity—here on display that much more impressive. It's rare to see artists throw down the gauntlet while simultaneously pushing themselves to new heights. I can't wait to see where Knocked Loose, and Curry, go from here.
Josh Rioux, NMA writer/OG: Before I start, I want to preface what I’m about to say here by stating that I believe rap and rock go together like a pool ball and a sock at a protest. There’s maybe no more righteous combination of forceful elements; when it hits, it can flatten a wildebeest. I’d also add to this that I’m more or less entirely positive on the work of both Knocked Loose and Denzel Curry (you can feel the hate coming at this point, right?). KL’s “Suffocate” from a couple years back was a diamond-studded fist, and Curry’s whole old-school backpacker plus contemporary jazz thing is almost suspiciously keyed to my tastes, like to the point where I worry for his credibility, given my profile.
That’s about where my praise ends. This track doesn’t work. Metalcore at its best can make you feel like you’ve never heard anything heavier. It’s something in the physics of the riffs, the way they feel like they’re dropping further than the floor should allow, which allows a subgenre that is fairly groove-averse to still create some kinetic energy and a sense of direction. But at its worse it’s this–riffs that feel cut from the middle parts of other breakdowns and injected into a track like chemotherapy designed to kill any pockets of momentum that might otherwise develop. Modern metalcore already has a production problem–compression is gooped on the way a six-year-old would ice their own birthday cake, and even great records feel like they’re encased in sonic rubber like the genre itself is trying to protect us from catching something–but it almost doesn’t matter when you get a track like this that feels like it starts halfway through its own idea and then fails utterly to complete it, repeatedly.
But none of that would make this especially worse than your average metalcore album skip track if it wasn’t for Denzel Curry jumping in on this mess to underline every single problem here. The reason rap and rock work is because heavy guitars are capable of creating grooves disgusting enough to reverse tides and turn the skies black. The godfathers of all we’re discussing here, Rage Against the Machine, were so effective at this that even their third album felt unnecessary (not sure why Battle has to catch a stray here, but fuck it, Dad’s on a roll). By the time they were midway through Evil Empire, the empire was dead–no further destruction necessary. “Hive Mind” is so fundamentally anti-groove that the very talented Curry is left with nothing to work with. Given that, can we blame him for instead doing something he’s apparently terrible at, ie. attempting a nu metal front man performance? Replacing his flow with an off-the-shelf butt rock vocal grain and the playbook Fred Durst threw away after the invasion of Iraq, Curry does nothing but embarrass with throwaway lines like “Fuck your favourite band, your favourite rapper” (sure, fuck them I guess), while Knocked Loose awkwardly splices in with the “Hive! Mind!” chorus chant like somebody trying to get into a bathroom with a wet towel bunched up behind the door.
On paper, this should’ve fucking destroyed. Knocked Loose can kick endless ass in a mosh pit, Denzel Curry is one of the best spiritually alternative rappers of the 20s, and essentially every extant version of rap-rock has been on a fucking tear with bands like Soul Glo and UnityTX and Inner Peace out there doing damage. And yet every choice these two made felt like the worst possible of every option. I’m inclined to blame metalcore, but I’m old like that, so take it with a grain of salt. Let’s forget this happened and try again with somebody else.
What are Angel Du$t and MAVI up to?
